The Virginia Constitution does not allow anyone with a felony conviction to vote unless their rights have been restored by the governor. But on Friday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced he would immediately restore voting rights to anyone who has completed their sentence for a drug offense, and reduce the waiting period for other violent felonies from five years to three.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on Tuesday unveiled plans for a 550-mile natural gas pipeline through three states, a proposal that won him kudos from the energy industry but criticism from environmental activists, who had considered him an ally.

James W. Ray sat silently in the front row of the church meeting room, rubbing his eyes. Ray wasn’t mourning a loss. Rather, the Vietnam veteran and felon wept over something that had just been returned to him — the right to vote.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe had run out of options to pull off his marquee campaign promise to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Even a risky plan to circumvent the legislature had fallen apart.